N’West, N’Central Situation Won’t Escalate to B’Haram Status, Masari Assures Nigerians

The Governor of Katsina State, Aminu Masari, has assured that  government would not allow the insecurity in the North-west and North-central to escalate to the status of Boko Haram terrorism in the North-east.

He gave the assurance while speaking to State House Correspondents, after a meeting with President Muhmmadu Buhari at the State House on Wednesday.

Bandits have struck severally in Katsina leaving 57 people killed in a string of attacks on villages in June.

Roughly 150 gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on residents before looting shops and stealing cattle in a series of assaults in six remote communities in Katsina state, it was reported.

Bandits had laid ambush in July in the state killing at least 16 soldiers and officers and 28 others wounded.

The governor had earlier in the week lamented the insufficiency of police officers and security operatives to challenge the attacks by bandits in the State.

In the State House, Abuja Masari disclosed that serious efforts were already on to ensure that banditry, kidnapping and all sorts of other criminal activities currently giving the Northwest sleepness and the Northcentral are brought to an end.

The governors expressed confidence that though some communities in nine council areas of Katsina State had been affected negatively by the activities of bandits and other criminals, agricultural yields would still come out well.

While assuring citizens that government is determined to contain the situation, Masasri said: “Currently the military are in Katsina for their annual super camp so over 2000 of them are gathered in Katsina in order to really send a signal to the bandits that the military is ready and willing and they have the capacity to deal with the situation.

“The hope is that the military including the police and other security agencies have been given a marching order by the President to control the situation by all means and it is a task that must be done because we cannot allow the situation in the North-West to develop to a worrisome stage like it is in the North-east.”

The Katsina State Governor said people living in the rural communities will testify that actions are on-going and the displaced persons are being well taken care of.

Masari stressed that although the rainy season has set in and can pose a challenge to the fight against bandits, government is determined to conquer them.

“You know, the North-Western and North-Central parts of the country where these bandits are is a vast forest area and unfriendly terrain so especially now during the rainy season, moving with heavy military equipment can be very challenge because the soil is soft and the rains are heavy but it is doable. No situation is impossible especially to a willing and determined mind so I do believe that we can conquer these bandits and stop them from hibernating into something else,” he stressed.

Masari noted that State governments in the affected areas are just waiting for the military to take total control of the forests and other affected areas before they can roll out their good plans for the people affected by banditry.

“First of all in the aspect of non-kinetic measures, what we are waiting for is for the military to take total control of the land areas then the State and Local Governments will now move in; especially in the area of education, access and water supply then their means of livelihood, which is mainly agriculture and livestock.

“For us in Katsina we have concluded all our designs but we cannot safely get access to where we can make reservations in terms of earth dams, we have already earmarked 30 areas in which we are going to reconstruct all the earth dams that are broken down and construct some that are new in order to provide watering points and again, we are reintroducing grazing points but as it is today, we cannot access the land.

“We have partners that are willing to join hands with us but we have to get the land back in peace because nobody will go and invest where security is not very tight but with the current military operation going on, I am sure before the end of this rainy season we will have a very condusive atmosphere and free area that people can go back to their normal life,” he said.

The Governor said criminal activities would not affect agricultural activities in Katsina state, adding that both government and farmers are expecting a bumper harvest this year.

He also said he was in the State House to bring Eid-El Kabir greeting s to President Buhari, one of their own, on behalf of all citizens of Katsina, since due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the President could not travel home for the sallah festivities, as he does every year.